Perceived Fate

With time, that statement grew to be true. It took a few days for him to be dismissed but once he was out he was back to normal. A few pains here and there but nothing that could harm him long term.

The speed test was done fairly quickly, a 100-metre dash and then a dodging test using a few leather balls. God did they hurt.

Malum secured himself 4th which although it was lower than the first month, what that didn’t include was the fact that many chose to specialise in speed and Malum simply didn’t, so he was happy with that result.

Strength came next and after pushing himself to the max he managed to secure a new personal best. He got third for his troubles and as it had risen from the last month, Malum gave himself an extra pat on the back.

It didn’t really mean much; first place overall was still guaranteed but it nice to see his efforts realised.

The tests, unlike the endurance ones, didn’t take that long so with most of the day left Malum got to spend it however he liked. He first checked on his group members and found them at the mess hall where Malum decided to grab a plate himself.

“Look who it is.” Said Gerald, pointing towards Malum, “The Endurance Monster!” He announced it like he was some brawler in some underground fight. Sadly his group members on encouraged his antics by letting out a few laughs.

Malum only smiled at them, he would pay them back later. In training.

“Didn’t anyone tell its rude to point?” Malum said as he sat down.

“Me, hell no. My dad always said it was a good way to get your point across, ensures that they know your talking to them.” He pointed directly at Malum, “And only them.”

“Move that finger or your find it in a place where the sun don’t shine.” He didn’t find pointing polite.

Luckily Gerald diffused the conversation by saying, “How do you know I don’t like that kinda thing.”

That got looks from everyone on the table, and a few around them as well.

“A joke, a joke, god all of you are so lame.”

After a few more questions about Gerald's preferences, the conversation shifted towards the overall rankings where Malum learned what his group had secured. Gerald got 3rd,, Jake came 7th and Alicia came just behind that at 8th, and finally Jerome came an even 10th.

Considering the singles tournament, Malum expected higher, but it seemed he hadn’t drilled in the basics enough. There was still 2 months left for that, and he was sure they would enjoy the ride.

Talking about the future, Malum learned that they were shifting the focus of training away from person vs person to person vs beast.

Demons were their actual enemies and most came in the form of mutated beasts although the myths spoke of their forms looking more human like, but they were extremely unlikely to see any that.

That also added to the schedule a class on demons and their specific weaknesses, habits, and usual behavior it was called Demonic Studies and Malum was sure it was going to be interesting.

That was about it, apart from another bomb of a speech from the Troop Leader and some recruit exchanging his points for some erotica Malum had missed nothing.

It was now back to the grind

Back inside of the camps lecture hall, Malum was sat at his desk twirling his pen. Demonic Studies had turned boring after the first few classes and the overall content could have been summed up in a couple sentences, but they just had to be dragged out over hours.

Take todays lesson for example, it was about a certain demonic beast called Variant – 004 which meant it was the fourth most common variant of demonic beasts. Generally the rarer the variant, so the higher the number, the more powerful the demon but obviously there were several exceptions.

004 was a massive creature, about the size of your average village house. It had three spikes on its shield-like face, and using its massive size and strong skin it was a tough opponent for anyone to face.

It weakness was its slow movement and its inability to quickly change direction.

It was definitely one of the stronger earlier sequence variants and they were told of a few ways to defeat the beast.

That was it, for the main content and yet the class was still going on. For some reason the lecturer felt compelled to speak about every scenario going into far too much detail.

Malum had complained but all got was a pat on the back and a pity filled smile.

He still listened; the content wasn’t completely pointless, but Malum felt his time was slowly ticking away. 45 days untill he was sent off, he hoped he had prepared enough.

Another day meant another lesson and today was on something more interesting.

Demonic Waves.

Demonic Waves were the most important thing they had learned about in demonic studies. It was where demons desires were amplified and it caused them to enter human territory to satiate those desires as it was where those resources where most plentiful.

This caused many demons to rush out at once and it was how the demonic army gained land. This phenomenon happened every month and its source was the God of Evil.

This was how he was likely going to die, everyone in the room for that matter was equally the same. Untold casualties had fallen to this phenomenon and in all of human history.

The figure was too much. A moment of silence was done for those that had fallen prior. Malum just hoped that soon he wouldn’t be joining them.

40 days untill he was sent off.

Alicia and Jake had decided to tie the knot. Instead of waiting for after their conscription they decided to not take the risk and just do it now so they could die as husband and wife just in case they did.

The ceremony wasn’t much, they planned to do a larger one if they did survive, but it included all the guest they cared about so just Malum, Jerome and Gerald.

They spent a few of their points on a pair of copper rings and Malum spoke as their priest.

The actual ceremony looked more like a ritual, but they were on a budget, so Malum just spoke the words that were known by everyone.

“Will you, Jake Flounder take Alicia Gresthall to be your forever fated Wife.”

Jake looked so nervous. His hands sweating like no tomorrow and his fidgeting never ended. His smile never left his mouth however, as he starred at his soon to be wife, Malum could tell that he was madly in love.

“Yes I do.”

“And do you Alicia Gresthall take Jake Flounder to be your forever fated Husband.”

Even though she only wore her usual military outfit, somehow she had managed to make herself even more radiant. Unlike her worrisome husband, she looked firm and delighted as she confidently said,

“I do.”

“Then under the Dao, I pronounce your fate entwined forever. Let your happiness be everlasting and your love eternal. You may now kiss the bride.”

They locked lips and Malum saw how both of their eyes shone a bright happiness he had never quite witnessed before.

Gerald didn’t hesitate to cheer on his buddy and even Jerome joined in his antics. Today he would allow their childish banter. Tonight he had planned a few activities meant only for fun. Death was going to scare them, but it wasn’t going to stop them from enjoying the life they had left.

The sunset over the camps distant horizon. It called for the end of their training, although none of them showed any signs of stopping their duels.

Wood met wood, as a game of strategy played out inside each and every one of their minds.

Malum was losing, unusually, but that because he was trying to do something new. He had swapped what hands usually used the sword and shield to see if he could learn anything new.

At first he was terrible. Could barely even swing straight, but with time and practice it began to show him the benefits of his idea.

First of all it trained his control over his weaker arm, this allowed to move his sword/shield with greater freedom. It also allowed him better options for defending, in particular parrying was something that took a lot of skill and importantly a lot of control.

Parrying was one of the best ways of defence, as it put the opponent off balance and could turn a bad situation into a solid victory.

For beasts, this worked less often but was applicable in certain situations.

If Malum were to be honest the thing that would most likely add to his winning odds against a demonic beast was simply to pack on the pounds. There were two things his Uncle had said that created how much effect an attack had.

The speed of the object, and how much that object weighed. In this case, the demonic beasts favoured high weight with low speed creating an effect with a lot of power.

Malum didn’t really want to choose that option, although he had bulked up significantly since the second month had begun. Instead he preferred the idea of, `It didn’t matter how much power an attack had if it didn’t hit the target.`

In other words, speed was what he needed and so his training slowly transitioned towards that. This morning he had done his sprints to find himself on track to his self-made targets. He was happy with where he was, now he just needed to train his control to better make use of his existing speed.

The sound of wood clashing continued untill there was no light left in the sky. It was then that the group began to pack up. A torch was lit, and they made their way back.

Gerald spoke, his face illuminated only by torchlight.

“Have any of you heard of the ancient tales of the God of Evil?”

Malum was tired, tired enough to leave Gerald to his antics.

Jerome played along, “No I have not, tell me more, oh wise one.”

“Well young one, the God of Evil is a vicious murderer who slaughtered the Ancient Gods and brought about the end of the Age of Monsters. This you have heard, but what you haven’t learned about what his endless lust. Most living beings bare his blood as he spread his desires all over the realm. These poor fools have married and yet secretly they are related!”

Jake couldn’t listen anymore, “Right mate, so you’re telling me that round about 500 thousand years ago we have a common ancestor. Gerald, I don’t know how to explain to you that there’s probably cases of that earlier. Probably even a few hundred years ago, that just how villages work.”

Gerald looked sad at his friend, “Yeah, but that doesn’t sound so mysterious does it. No Evil god just sad lazy people sat in a village for a few hundred years, also, isn’t their laws about that.”

Jerome spoke next, “Yeah, my family got moved a few years back because of it. Called the Travellers Act or something.

After a few murmurs of mild curiosity being sated, Gerald couldn’t help himself from speaking.

“Bet those noble families don’t follow those laws. I’ve heard of crazy stuff about their interfamily breeding.”

Alicia didn’t want the image in her head, “Don’t use the word breeding with humans. But, yeah there was this bastard in our village who was the village chief and he spoke many times about how fucked up his family was.”

By the time they reached their dormitories they managed to turn the conversation into a straight rant against the nobility. How they stole their hard-earned food, their money, and now they had taken their lives as well.

Malum found their hate all very justified, even though technically he was the pinnacle of nobility being of royal blood. Not like he would see the benefits of his privilege. All he got was a hunting party he had to be careful of, and a strange Uncle who left him.

Jolly stuff, thankfully tomorrow they had a hunting trip with demonic beasts. It was a training exercise they would be introducing every fortnight after tomorrow and it was something Malum was looking forward to.

Finally he would put information from textbooks and lectures to reality. His fighting was going to be put to the test and he wanted to see how he would do. He went over some basics before the group called it a night.

The moon hang over their dormitory, it was beautiful blood moon tonight. It’s red light covering the realm.

35 days untill they were sent off.